Adrian Covert

The San Francisco Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission wants to stick a GPS module on every resident's car, track the total miles driven—and then tax the accordingly. Mass transit and carpooling are fine ideas, but this doesn't seem like such a great thing.

According to CBS Bay Area, the commission wants to launch a study to explore the pros and cons of the Vehicle Miles Traveled tax, which could force drivers to pay as much as a dime per mile. It is purportedly an effort to reduce road congestion and promote mass transit. From an individual commuter's standpoint, driving long distances to work every day could mean paying more money to go make money.

But then there's glaring privacy issue associated with GPS tracking. The commission says it doesn't care about where people are going (only how far they've traveled). But what's to stop law enforcement or governments from seizing that data? Hopefully this is one bill that never goes into effect. [CBS Bay Area]